


what was ours still will be

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: For Even a Day [5]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: M/M, Royalty AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:29:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24929959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: "Do you ever regret us?""Yes."
Relationships: David Jacobs & Jack Kelly, David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Jack Kelly/Katherine Plumber
Series: For Even a Day [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1705639
Comments: 20
Kudos: 85





	what was ours still will be

**Author's Note:**

> Helloooooooo I'm back with another royal au fic a hundred years later! This is not about Sprace and actually almost no one but Jack and Davey actually appear - I got really emotional about royal au Javey last night (because SOMEBODY got me thinking about them) and then this happened.

“Do you ever regret us?”

“That’s a loaded question, Jackie-mine.”

“Well, do you?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

Davey rolls over to face Jack. They’d been curled around each other back-to-front before, and now they’re nose-to-nose. “You know I do.”

“Well, I don’t,” Jack replies. He can feel Davey’s breath on his face.

“I didn’t say I want to stop or anything, love, you don’t need to get defensive,” says Davey. “But you asked.”

“I asked.” Jack presses his forehead to Davey’s. “Why?”

“Why do I regret it?” says Davey. “Why _don’t_ I? Jackie, it hurts. It hurts so goddamn much but I can’t stop because I’m way too far gone on you. If I could turn back time and tell my younger self not to get involved – not to fall in love with you? I’d do it.”

“I’m sorry,” says Jack.

“I know,” says Davey. “It’s easier for you.”

“I’m _sorry_ ,” says Jack.

“I don’t want it to hurt you, Jackie,” says Davey. He presses his lips to Jack’s, then shifts back again with a small sigh.

Jack’s hand skims along Davey’s side, coming to rest just at his waist and holding on tight. “I don’t want you hurting either, Davey-mine.”

“I’ve been in love with you since we were kids. It’s too late for that.”

\--

Jack is five, and Mama’s friends have come to the castle to help her run the kingdom since Papa isn’t around to do it anymore. They have twin children Jack’s age, which Mama says will be good for him.

Both of the Jacobs twins have dark brown hair and pretty blue eyes, and both of the Jacobs twins are currently eyeing Jack a little nervously.

The girl pushes through her nerves first, stepping forward and offering Jack her hand. “I’m Sarah. It’s nice to meet you, Prince Jack.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jack echoes.

“That’s my brother, David,” Sarah says. She rolls her eyes. “He’s _shy_.”

“Heya, Davey,” says Jack. “Nice to meet’cha.”

Davey smiles a little. “It’s Dav _id_ , Prince Jack.”

“Davey’s a nickname, silly,” Jack says, grinning. “We’re gonna be friends, right? So you gotta have a nickname.”

“Davey,” Davey repeats, testing out the sound of it. “Okay.”

“And you gotta just call me Jack. _Please_.”

“I dunno,” says Sarah. “Is that allowed?”

“Is if I says it is,” says Jack, crossing his arms.

“Alright, Jackie,” Davey says, a slightly teasing glint to his eye. Jack smiles.

Oh, he’s gonna like this kid. He can already tell.

\--

“How come you never call him David, Jack?”

“’Cause he’s Davey.”

“But he’s not, he’s David.”

“Well there’s plenty’a Davids in the world, Anthony. This one’s mine, and I can call _my_ David Davey if I want to.”

\--

“Mama says I’m getting married,” Jack says.

“We’re eight, Jack,” Davey says, ever practical. “You can’t get married yet.”

“Like, _eventually_.”

“Well, duh.” Davey holds up his storybook. “You’re a prince, princes get married.”

“Do royal advisors get married? In your stories?” Jack asks.

Davey hums. “Not usually.”

“Good,” says Jack. “Then you can stay with me forever.”

“I’d like that a lot,” says Davey.

Jack crawls up next to him on the couch, squishing up against Davey so they’re touching from shoulder to knee, with their feet tucked underneath them. “Mama said the girl I’m going to marry is coming to live with us part’a the time. So we can grow up together.”

“But you and me are s’posed to grow up together,” Davey says, frowning.

“I think we still get to,” says Jack. “Just with another girl around.”

“Okay,” says Davey. He puts his head on Jack’s shoulder. “As long as you don’t have to stop being my friend it’s okay.”

“I could never.”

\--

“Davey!” Kitty says, running into the room. “Get Jack to leave me alone!”

“Have you tried asking him?” says Davey. “I don’t know what I can do about it you can’t.”

“He likes you better than me,” says Kitty. She rolls her eyes. “Duh.”

“Princess Katherine, what unbecoming behavior,” Davey teases in a passable impression of their tutor’s fussy tone.

Kitty giggles. “For real, Davey, I’m tryin’ to work on my homework and he keeps bothering me.”

“If I tell him to lay off he’ll just come bother me,” Davey says.

“So?”

“Yeah, okay. Where is he?”

\--

“Hey, Davey?”

“What, Jackie?”

“Have you had your first kiss?”

Davey wrinkles his nose. “No. Who would I kiss, anyway? Have you?”

“I haven’t,” says Jack. He can’t fully see Davey in the dark, but they’re entangled with each other in a nest of pillows and blankets on Jack’s bed.

“How come?” Davey asks, surprised. “I mean, Kitty’s around for the season again, if you’re interested in kissing you could just ask her.”

“I don’t wanna kiss Kitty.”

“Kitty’s your _betrothed_.”

“So?”

“Well, who would you rather kiss?”

Jack hums noncommittally. He knows exactly who he’d rather kiss than Kitty, aside from kind of anyone because it’s hard to see Kitty that way. “Dunno. I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Well, I don’t really get the appeal of kissing, you know?” says Davey. “Just mushin’ your face against somebody else’s face?”

“Could be nice, if you like the person enough,” Jack says.

“I don’t think I’ll ever like anybody that much,” Davey replies. He pauses for a moment. “At least, not anybody who’s an option.”

“You like somebody who’s not an option?” Jack’s face is warm and his heart is racing. Davey is the pretty son of a noble family, there’s almost no one who isn’t an option for him.

Davey scoots forward a little, so his forehead rests against Jack’s. “I think you know I do.”

“Can I kiss you, Davey?”

“Your first should be Kitty.”

“I don’t _want_ Kitty. I want you.”

“Jackie –“

“If you don’t want to, say so.”

“I do, though.”

“Then kiss me.”

He does.

\--

When they’re sixteen, they talk about it with the girls.

The thing is, Kitty isn’t really interested in Jack any more than he is in her. Like Jack, she’s much more interested in one of the Jacobs twins. Unlike Jack, her main interest is in Sarah. Although, like Jack, not her only interest.

“Do you even like boys at all?” Jack asks.

Kitty’s gaze drifts to Davey, who flushes pink but smiles at her. “Yes. Do you like girls at all?”

“Yes,” Jack says. He winks at Sarah.

And that’s how it goes. The twins have agreed amongst themselves that they’re okay with sharing their partners as long as they don’t have to think too much about what the other is getting up to with them.

(Jack and Kitty are in the same boat.)

\--

Jack is nineteen when he realizes he’s actually in love with David Jacobs.

That isn’t to say that he _falls_ in love with Davey at nineteen; he’s been in love with Davey as long as he can remember.

The thing is, Davey is Jack’s favorite person, bar none. Never mind that Katherine is his dear friend or how much he loves talking to Sarah. Never mind Race and Charlie and Mama.

Davey is Jack’s _favorite person_. They’ve spent hundreds of nights sitting up by candlelight talking until far too late, they each know at a glance when the other needs comfort or grounding. Davey is smart and smart mouthed and can keep up with Jack’s leaps of logic without even blinking.

Davey was pretty when they were kids and now he’s gorgeous.

There is not a single inch or quirk of Davey Jacobs that Jack does not know. He knows all Davey’s secrets, knows his insecurities, knows the things he’s proud of.

He knows Davey. He loves Davey, really truly loves him.

It hurts.

All of this falls into place in Jack’s brain while he’s sitting across from Davey at a meeting he’s supposed to be paying attention to. A council member says something dumb, and Davey meets Jack’s eye like he always does, then he frowns.

Davey must see in Jack’s face that something is wrong, because he can read Jack just as well as Jack can read him. He doesn’t say anything, because Mama learned a long time ago that letting Jack and Davey sit together at meetings is a recipe for neither of them paying any attention, but he catches Jack by the hand as they leave the room once the meeting ends.

“Jackie, are you alright?”

“Yeah,” says Jack. He’s pretty sure he’s breathing, right? His heart is supposed to be racing like this, right? “Davey, I love you.”

Davey gives him a funny little half smile. “Yeah, Jack. I love you, too. What’s –“

“No, Davey –“ Jack shakes his head. He doesn’t want to do this here. He drags Davey down the halls, up the stairs, down a few more hallways, and into his rooms.

“What’s wrong, Jack?” Davey asks, frowning.

“Davey, I _love you_ ,” says Jack.

“Oh,” says Davey. His frown turns, slowly, into a very sad smile. “Oh, Jack. I love you.”

\--

When Jack is twenty-one, he marries Katherine.

He spends the night before in Davey’s arms.

“Will this change everything?” Jack asks.

“We always knew it was coming, love,” Davey says. It’s not an answer.

“I don’t want things to change,” says Jack.

“I know. I don’t either.”

“They will, though, won’t they?”

Davey sighs. “Yeah. I think they will.”

“I’m sorry, Davey-mine.” Jack kisses the top of Davey’s head, then leaves his face buried in Davey’s curls.

“I’m sorry, too, Jack,” Davey says quietly.

\--

“Well, I don’t regret it,” Jack says. “Because I’ve been in love with you since we were kids, too, and yeah, it _hurts_. Every goddamn day, because I’m married to Kitty and you keep things from me because you don’t think you’re worth being my priority anymore –“

“Jack, I _can’t_ be your priority anymore,” says Davey.

Jack kisses Davey before he responds. “Too fucking bad.”

“Jack –“

“No, Davey,” Jack says firmly. “There is too much else in our lives we can’t control. We have responsibilities and people relying on us and things that have to go how they’re going to go and – and we can’t do shit about it even if we wanted to. But I’m allowed to have you.” He kisses Davey again. “And you’re allowed to have me.”

“Like _this,_ Jack,” Davey says, a little desperate. He gestures vaguely to indicate the way they’re entangled with each other, the way they’re clinging to each other, the evening they’ve just had. “Not – not the way we want.”

“We could, love,” says Jack. “We could. If you would just _let_ us.”

“The girls –“

“Don’t care.” Jack’s grip on Davey tightens. “You know they don’t. I’m married to Kitty because I have to be, it never should’ve meant that you and I gave up –“

“What, Jack? What did we let ourselves have before that we don’t now?”

“Our chance.” Jack sighs. “Davey-mine, I love you. I’ve loved you a long time. I don’t regret it for a second.”

“You _know_ I love you, too, Jack, it’s just – it’s not that simple,” Davey says. There’s so much longing in his voice, though, that Jack could just about cry.

“It is, Davey, it’s always been that simple,” says Jack. “You and me, okay? Please, just let yourself have this. Let _us_.”

Davey sighs, leaning into Jack’s touch. “What do you want that we don’t already have?”

“Honesty?”

“What?”

“I love you, Davey Jacobs. There was never gonna be anyone else, not really. Not like you. I owe it to you to be straight about that. I’d – I’d like it if we could stop pretending it’s _not like that_.”

“Jack.”

“Davey.”

“I love you, Jackie-mine, but –“

“No more buts, Davey. Do you want this? Me? All of me, as much as I can give you, it’s yours. I always have been.”

“Yes, Jack,” Davey says finally. “Yes, I do. I am, too, you know. Yours, as much as I can give you.”

Jack presses his lips to Davey’s one more time. “That’s all I need, love.”


End file.
